Propeller apparatus for boats.



A. OPPENHEIMER.

PROPELLEB. APPARATUS FOR BOATS.

APPLICATION FILED 0013.12, 1911.

1,028,265, Patented June 4, 1912.

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WITNESSES 3 mmvron. M ABEP/flPPf/W/fl/Yf/ ALBERT OPPENHEIMER, or NOTTING HILL, LONDON, ENGLAND.

PROPELLER APPARATUS FOR BOATS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 1912.

Application filed October 12, 1911. Serial No. 654,213.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT OPPENHEIMER, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and residing at Notting Hill, London, W., Eng land, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Propeller Apparatus for Boats, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to means for propelling boats, such as rowboats adapted to be propelled by oars, paddles or other hand operated apparatus, and the object thereof is to provide a propelling apparatus of this class having great power and adapted to be easily operated and which may be applied to any boat of the class specified.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawing forms a part, in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views, and in which Figure 1 is a plan view of an ordinary rowboat provided with my improved propelling apparatus; Fig. 2 a transverse section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a sectional detail view of the bottom part of one side portion of the propelling apparatus, detached and on an enlarged scale, and; Fig. 4: a diagrammatic View indicating the operation of the apparatus.

-In the drawing forming part of this specification, I have shown at a an ordinary rowboat which, in'the construction shown, is provided with an approximately flat bottom, which may be of any desired shape in cross section.

In the practice of my invention and in the form of construction shown, I secure to the opposite sides of the hull of the boat vertically arranged brackets b in which are mounted vertical shafts 0 to the lower ends of which are secured double yoke-shaped hangers cl one of which is shown in Fig. 3 partially in section, and both of which are clearly shown in Fig. 2. The double yokeshaped hangers d are provided with two sets of arms 612 and d arranged at right angles to each other and the arms (Z are slightly longer than the arms (Z and mounted in each are blade rods or bars 6 having paddles e at the opposite ends thereof, one of said paddles being in a plane at right angles to that of the other paddle. The

blade rods or bars 6 cross each other at right that secure the brackets b to the outer side of the hull as shown at f are supports 9 which extend above the hull and in the top portions of which are mounted crank shafts it having handles 71 and the outer ends of which'are provided with beveled gears 72/ which mesh with corresponding beveled gears it on the tops of the shafts c. lVith this construction and by turning the shafts h, the blade rods or bars 6 may be turned in a circle as indicated by the arrows w in Fig. 1, and in practice, strike pieces 2' are secured to the bottom outer side portions of the hull and extended along the same in both directions a distance approximately equal to onehalf the length of the blade rods or bars 0 and as the said blade rods or bars are r0- tated, the top edges of the blades at one end thereof are brought in contact with said strike pieces and said blades are turned into a horizontal position as they pass beneath the hull of the boat as clearly indicated in Fig. 2, while the blades at the outer or opposite ends of said rods or bars are turned into a vertical position as clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. With this construction it will be seen that the said blades in moving through one-half of a circle, or that one-half of the circle through which they turn which is on the outer side of the hull of the boat, are in operative position, while the said blades moving through the other half of said circle or beneath the hull of the boat are in inoperative position and said blades are held in this position by the bottom of the hull, of the boat as will bereadily understood,

and in order to reduce friction between the blades and the bottom of the hull of the boat, anti-friction rollers j are mounted in said blades.

The turning movement of the blades as hereinbefore described is indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 4, said blades at one endof the rods or bars 6 while in a vertical position striking the bottom edge portion of the hull or the strike pieces i as indicated at 3 and being thrown into the horizontal position as indicated at 1 which operation results in throwing the blades at the outer or opposite ends of said bars or rods into a vertical position. ith this construction, as will be seen, great power can be developed and the crank shafts h may both be operated by one person or each may be separately operated, as desired.

My invention is not limited to the strike pieces 2' and the bottom of the hull of the boat may serve to turn the blades, and other changes in and modifications of the con struction herein described may be made, within the scope of the appended claim, without departing from the spirit of my invention, or sacrificing its advantages.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 2- A propeller apparatus for boats comprising shafts, supported in a vertical position on the outer sides of the hull and provided at their lower ends with attachments in which are mounted blade rods or bars adapted to turn in a horizontal plane beneath the hull, and rotatable in said attachments and which are provided at their 0pposite ends with blades arranged in planes at right angles to each other, said rods or bars being rotated by the blades coming in contact with the bottom of the hull.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of the subscribing witnesses this 3rd day of October 1911. I

ALBERT OPPENHEIMER.

WVitnesses:

CLARENCE P. LIDDON, R. J. VVILLIAMS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

